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Scholar's Death Remains a Mystery

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Shortly after 1 P.M. on May 21, 1991, a shot rang out on the third floor of the University of Chicago Divinity School. A few minutes later, the police found the body of Ioan Culianu, a 41-year-old religion instructor, slumped over in a locked stall in the men's room.

That a well-liked teacher could be shot to death in the center of one of the world's most prestigious campuses at midday was troubling enough. But in the year and a half since, no arrests have been made, and the passage of time has given rise to an abundance of theories to explain Mr. Culianu's death.

The theory heard most often is that Mr. Culianu, (pronounced KOO-lee-ahn-oo) a Romanian native who was critical of the post-Communist government in Bucharest, was killed to send a message. 'Unanswered Questions'

The Cook County Medical Examiner's report shows that Mr. Culianu was killed by a .25-caliber bullet that struck the back of his head. The police say his killer fired while standing on the toilet in the adjacent stall. Detective Robert A. McGuire of the Chicago Police Department said more than 100 people have been questioned. "It is still a mystery," Detective McGuire said. "There are too many unanswered questions."

Friends say Mr. Culianu was fascinated by mysticism and the occult, and some wonder if the killing is related to a scholarly conference he sponsored on those subjects the weekend before his death. Others question whether his meeting with the exiled King Michael of Romania one month earlier, and his hints that he would support a return of the monarchy, precipitated the killing. Police investigators wonder if the professor was killed in a bungled holdup.

But the most common scenario offered is that Mr. Culianu was assassinated because of his outspoken criticism of the Romanian Government.

After the December 1989 revolution in Romania, when President Nicolae Ceausescu was deposed and executed, Mr. Culianu wrote more than 30 articles for Free World, a Romanian-language newspaper published in Brooklyn, and other publications condemning the new government and Romania's new president, Ion Iliescu, a former top Communist official.

A frequent topic was the notorious Securitate, or secret police, which Romanian officials say was disbanded during the revolution. Mr. Culianu asserted that the Securitate was continuing to operate as part of the Romanian Information Service. 'Signature of the Securitate'

Ion Pacepa, a former adviser to Mr. Ceausescu and State Secretary for the Ministry of Interior, which supervised the Securitate, argues that the killing was politically motivated. Mr. Pacepa, who fled Romania and was granted political asylum in the United States in 1978, described the killing of Mr. Culianu as "the first Romanian assassination in this country."

He speculates that the Romanian Government wanted Mr. Culianu killed because his writings suggesting that the Securitate continued to operate threatened Romania's trading status with the United States. Shooting political prisoners in the back of the head -- similar to the way Mr. Culianu was killed -- was a "signature of the Securitate," he said.

"I don't have a smoking gun," Mr. Pacepa said, "but I can smell their hands."

For all Mr. Culianu's political activism, colleagues say, he was above all else a scholar. He fled Romania in his 20's to study in France and Italy. He earned three doctorates, spoke at least a half-dozen languages and wrote prolifically on mysticism, the occult and the history of Christianity.

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In the weeks before his death, friends and relatives say, Mr. Culianu complained of receiving threatening letters and telephone calls. His sister, Therese Petrescu, said that three days before he was killed Mr. Culianu called her to say he was canceling his first trip to Romania in about 20 years because he feared for his safety. "He told me he feared the right wing," she said. 'He Was Receiving Threats'

His fiancee, Hillary Wiesner, an American doctoral student at Harvard University, said Mr. Culianu changed his locks and bought a life insurance policy. "I think he was receiving threats," she said.

Mr. Culianu was particularly troubled, friends said, when his apartment was broken into in November 1989 and a computer was stolen. John Collins, a divinity school professor, said Mr. Culianu's concern about the burglary seemed "inordinate."

"It wasn't just the worth of the computer that bothered him," Mr. Collins said. "He interpreted it as someone sending him a message that they could get to him."

Detective McGuire dismisses the idea that the break-in was anything more than the work of "local thugs," noting that both the university and Mr. Culianu's apartment are in Hyde Park, an area where burglaries are common. He also questions whether the killing was politically motivated.

An assassin would use a larger-caliber gun and fire several shots, the detective said, whereas Mr. Culianu's killer fired one small-caliber cartridge. He also said it was unlikely that a hired killer would chose such a conspicuous setting as a men's restroom. "Anyone could have walked in," Detective McGuire said. Romanians Deny Involvement

Andrei Codrescu, another Romanian emigre who met Mr. Culianu at a conference and shared his criticism of the Romanian Government, said he was convinced that the killing was part of a campaign by the Securitate to frighten dissidents in this country. He said the killing occurred in the men's room next to Mr. Culianu's office to send a message to critics: "It says we can get you anywhere."

Romanian officials deny any involvement in the killing and say their Government did not regard Mr. Culianu as a threat. Cornel Dragomirescu, press attache for the Romanian Embassy in Washington, called such assertions a "lie."

Mr. Dragomirescu also said Mr. Culianu's writings were not widely distributed in Romania. He added that 90 percent of the newspapers and magazines in Romania routinely criticize the Government. "Are we going to murder all the critics?" he asked. "Of course not."

Police officials say they are still investigating the killing. But because of the time that has elapsed, Ms. Wiesner, the victim's fiancee, doubts that anyone will ever be prosecuted. "All the Romanians got the message," she said, "and all that the Americans got was confused."

A version of this article appears in print on January 17, 1993, on Page 1001027 of the National edition with the headline: Scholar's Death Remains a Mystery. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe